Apr 5, 2012

Droppings Boards, because Poop Happens

by
Kathy Shea Mormino

Droppings boards are essentially a shelf designed to collect chicken poop deposited overnight. Most chicken-keepers scrape off the droppings boards (DBs) each morning. I use a 12" taping knife and a big bucket, which makes quick work of the task. Then it goes directly to the compost pile.

DBs can be made from many materials ranging from a simple plank of wood to a repurposed kitchen countertop. Some droppings boards are permanently installed while others are removable. Removable droppings boards make for easy, semi-annual deep cleaning of the entire coop.Some of the benefits of droppings boards are:

they aid in keeping a coop clean since the nightly deposits do not pile up in the litter/bedding

cleaner litter means less frequent changing

less frequent bedding changes saves time and money

less bedding in the compost pile means a higher percentage of the compost is nitrogen-rich manure

Our first attempt at coop droppings control was to install a droppings pit, which is simply a box on the floor under the roosts that collects the droppings. It is covered by chicken wire or hardware cloth (we tried both) to prevent the chickens from walking in the droppings. This design was short-lived (as were the burlap version of nest box curtains) as it didn't work quite as planned. The droppings didn't fall through the chicken wire as much as they stuck to it. The chickens would walk on the wire and drag shavings up onto it, making a big, matted mess that was a nightmare to clean.

Enter: the first droppings board. We had to raise the roosts in order to accommodate the droppings board, which worked out well as I wanted removable roosts for cleaning purposes. The DB was made of a solid piece of wood with vinyl flooring stapled on top for ease of cleaning. It was heavy and difficult to move inside this 4'x6' space.

The chickens don't seem to notice it and they tend not to walk on the droppings board as I expected they might.

This is the Little Deuce coop, which can be seen in my here and here. We installed these temporary roosts so the Black Copper Marans chicks could move in but we intended to install a droppings board when time permitted. (They were molting when this shot was taken.)

The position of the nest boxes and pop door (on the right in this photo) presented installation challenges for the roosts and the DB.

This was the original location and size of the droppings board. The nest boxes can be seen on the left. I was very unhappy with this design as the roost space was extremely limited and the droppings board didn't span the length of the roosts. My husband's rationale for this design was that access to the pop door would have been limited if it ran the length of the coop. We also had an electronic pop door opener on order and he thought its operation might be hampered with a longer droppings board.

With the auto pop door opener installed, the droppings board spanned the width of the coop and did not interfere with the pop door or nest box access but the upper roosts were much too high and the lowest roost nearly touched the DB, which was unsatisfactory. Back to the drawing board.

We switched over to using sand as litter the same time we installed the final version of the droppings boards. One of the benefits of droppings boards AND sand is that they allow for the removal of a significant amount of moisture from the coop. Removing droppings from the coop keeps it drier, reducing the risk of frostbite, the risk of bumblefoot infections, and makes the air healthier for them to breathe.

I use a 12" taping knife to scrape down the droppings boards once each morning and the coop is CLEAN the rest of the day! The droppings go into the compost pile where they will become the best garden fertilizer available!

One of the useful things about a droppings board is that it provides the opportunity to learn what is happening with the chickens during the night and early morning hours. Sometimes there will have been a scuffle and blood that otherwise would have disappeared into the bedding and droppings will be visible on the DB. That alerts me to look for a victim who may need first-aid or to be segregated from the flock so she has time to heal and isn't injured further.

Another very important benefit of having droppings boards is that problem droppings are quickly detected. The morning prior to this installment, there were no abnormal droppings seen. Since I know the usual roost positions of my chickens, I knew exactly which hen had this advanced stage of coccidiosis.

The shed we converted into a new and much larger coop for our flock of 7 using the plans from your coop tour as a guide, is now finished and the chickens are settled in their new home. There will be plenty of room for 18 more when they are old enough to join the gang. Its funny now to see them all huddled down in one corner on the top roost and a huge expanse of space between them and the other wall. I LOVE the dropping board which I did have in my old coop too. It makes cleaning in the morning a 5 minute easy chore. Thanks for all your good info.

I'm happy I read your article. I'm considering getting a few chickens and wanted to read up to determine pros and cons. Cleaning up poop is certainly a con for me. I'm considering a mobile coop as opposed to a permanent structure. I'm trying to not invest too much money in this project until it is determined if chicken keeping is for me/my family. Thanks for your wisdom!

Hi Jeryl! You're wise to do your homework first. There are lots of decisions to be made about how to care for your chickens. I have yet to hear of a chicken-keeper that regretted their decision. I hope you do give it a try when you're ready and check back to let me know your thoughts on it!

Okay you I know what you thinking right now what a The Queen doing with Chickens.. but I have 4 backyard free roaming chickens and this is my first time commenting ... but not my first time reading your awesome suggestion. This is the one I going to have my hubby do next... I hate the dropping from over night and this would be an easy way to keep the coop cleaner for the my girls... thank you The Scrapbooking Queen.. :o)

Hi Kathy, you mention Coccidia in this post. I am a new chicken keeper and had a chicken die recently of Coccidia. I have been treating the remainder of my flock with Corid 5-7 days per month and guess I will have to do that forever. Is that what you do? When treating with Corid, can you eat the eggs? I have been throwing mine out during the Corid week. Any adviser would be appreciated. Thanks, Cameron in Nashville

Hi there, I acquired some young cochins & I really new nothing about owning them so I found a guy that was selling coops & bought one that has a wired floor, the coop is raised high off the ground & has a nesting box & two perches inside with a small door. I find it difficult to remove the poop off the wire, any suggestions? They basically are only in there at night time & when they go in to lay eggs (I had to add another nesting box because of an annoying broody). Otherwise they roam an enclosed area along side my house. But when they have some big droppings I can't seem to scrap it off the wire & water certainly did nothing but make a mess.

As you saw from reading my blog post, I had a droppings pit covered with wire once upon a time too. I 86'd it because it was impossible to keep clean. I recommend replacing the wired floor with wood and installing a droppings board or, at a minimum, boot trays underneath the roost. Much easier to clean than wire!

Hi Kathy, great post. I have a poop board, too, but I do things slightly differently, as when I have an empty feed bags, I lay them out on the board. When they get pretty poopy, I take them out, scrape the poop into the compost pile, then throw the bags away and replace with new.

I have a droppings board under my roosts. (Actually is is an old red kids plastic toboggan, but it works.) I keep about 2 inches of PDZ in it so the poop dries out immediately and there's never an odor. I also scoop it out like cat litter every 2-3 days. (I only have 5 chickens.) When it is clean I notice the chickens like to go on it and take a dust bath so I also added some DE so it's serving two purposes!

I don't use a droppings board. I have had great success with the Deep Litter method, a mixture of pine shavings and rice hulls, and I experiment with additions such as nut shells, wood/bark chips, etc. I aerate the litter daily with a pitchfork, and sometimes I do remove big clumps of fresh poops by hand and put them directly in a compost bucket, which gets emptied into the compost piles. (By hand but usually it's a gloved hand!) I don't find moisture build-up a problem, as the coop has very good ventilation. In fact, I have to add water to the litter in the summer to keep it from being too dry. No smell, no muss, no fuss, and what's more, chicks raised on deep litter (once there is a healthy microbial field going, which is the point of it all) are much less prone to get coccidiosis. The secret isn't to eliminate pathogens, which is impossible to maintain even if it were a good idea. It's to keep them in balance with benign and healthful microorganisms. Nature has this all worked out, we just need to pay attention.

I can't imagine having a coop without a droppings board! I have sand on the floor of the coop and the run and the girls free range during the day. Clean up is quick and easy. A few minutes in the morning for the droppings board and a few minutes in the evening for the sand. Nice!

I have 2x4s making a rectangle box on the floor under the roost area. I lay a small tarp in the box and put a layer of sand in. I treat it like a litter box as I do with my cats and the tarp makes it easy to lift it all out to replace the sand when the need arises.

I cut a slot that is 2 inches tall and as long as the roost is in length - it runs along the bottom of the wall at the baseboard so that the drop board will sit in it, be sure to frame out the 2 inch slot with headers and trim to manage the load bearing wall.

Then mount gutters down low at the bottom side of the cut out opening with a down spout to a bucket. (Instant liquid fertilizer as needed).

Then for the inside drop pan: It's made of AZEK to Mill (ATM) is available in a board size of 1 ¼” x 9 ¼” x 18’ and sheet size of 1 ¼” x 48” x 8’ (http://www.azek.com/azek-to-mill-atm/styles/).

Think of the drop pan as a flat gutter with raised sides screwed in place to prevent the water from spilling out the sides. Like a pan sized to the roost with a lip on each side. It's then angled from the outer side of the roost and downward towards the wall at the outside base. Be sure to extend the drop pan edge to the down low outside wall so water runs into gutter outside.

Now take a PVC pipe at least the length of the roost and add spray heads or just pre drill holes on one side and set a water line to one end with a plug on the other. Set water on a slow low steady stream, you can use a battery timer to regulate water usage and now you've created a small water fall from the top of the board down to the bottom of the board and through the wall into a gutter and then a down spout into a bucket (Instant liquid fertilizer as needed for garden).

Hi there - we are planning on installing dropping boards but just wanted to know how low to install it below the roosts. My husband is concerned that the birds will just want to sit on the dropping boards instead of the roosts.

Some birds cannot be convinced to roost and those birds will either sleep on the floor of the coop, in a nest box or on a droppings boards. There's not much you can do about it except to pick them up and put them on the roost every night after dark and hope they catch on some day. Many do, some will not.

What is the maximum recommended height off the ground for the DB's and roosts? I am designing my coop and building it over the next month so any advice would be fantastic.I only have a small flock of 5 but want full door access for easy maintenance and storage use. Thanks for all the information you share.

This is our 110 lb dog Hunter. He thinks he is the Momma Hen and loves the girls. He watches over them protectively.

I tried this & my kids aka chickens ended up hanging out on them so much they had poo all over the underside of them so I came up with a idea...someone gave me a huge roll of vinyl fabric for like redoing sofas, hated the color (tan) but realized how great it would work to put a strip of it as long & a bit wider than the roosting bars on the floor. I cover it with a bit of bedding hay & when it needs to be cleaned I can fold it up & carry the whole thing to the compost pile & use the hay to help clean it before I wash it off with white vinegar & water. It dries in minutes outside & then is put back down...no more scrapping off hard dried poo off of wood or metal screening plus saves this old ladies back :) I also cut it & fit it in the laying boxes before adding the bedding so another easy cleaning job for me. :)I do love all your ideas on how to make us better chicken people, keep up the good work honey!

In the next few nights the temps will be 0° or below here. The days have been in the teens. My boyfriend says we will have to bring in the chickens for the nights. I don't think so. Ive had chickens before and they always have survived. They have lots of food and fresh water, thick bedding too. I keep it fluffy and as dry as I can. Is this going to be enough?

Do the chickens like to perch outside of their coop? I've built an enclosed run around their coop and was wondering if I should build perches outside as well as the one that's inside the small coop. Thanks for you.

I am just starting my journey as a chicken owner and this is all so overwhelming! Can you give me any advice on getting started? My coop is the prefab raised kind and I plan to just start with 3 or 4 birds

I am making plans for my future coop, thanks so much for all the info here! The poop boards are an awesome idea. I wonder: Have you tried maybe affixing linoleum on them, to make it easier to scrape them? I spray no-stick veg spray on snow shovels to make the snow slide off and not stick to the shovel, so I wonder if covering the boards with linoleum (with or without non-stick cook spray sprayed on) is worth trying??

Oh, so they walk on yours too. I understood your blog as they didn't walk on them at all. Now I get it. Thanks! BTW I modeled my new hen house (named Chickhill Downs, because I live in Louisville, home of the Derby/Churchill Downs) after yours. It's amazing! You're an inspiration! :)

So, im a first timer too and my hubs is in the middle of building the coop...he was going to make the droppings board the entire floor but that really isn't necessary is it? do they generally just poop from the roost and the DB can be under the roost? Second question...you are cleaning their coop daily of droppings correct?

Thanks - before my babies go into their big girl house I'll be installing these. Also using sand out there, seems so much more practical than pine shavings. I have it in the brooder now and the babies are loving the warm sand to get a quick snooze -- until someone decides to scramble over then there goes the nap :)

I am totally pleased with using the droppings board in our coop, I covered mine with contact shelving paper. I scrape to poops, it lifts out easy when I want to do a major water jet spray on it, and/or spritz with a cleaner and wipe clean. I sprinkle the dry board with lavender and lemon balm.

We have pine shavings under our roosts and hay in the boxes and the droppings are EVERYWHERE. I understand that havin a DB under the roost would catch a lot but what about the rest of the coop that has bedding?

I am very curious about the sand. Could you give me more info. How often does the entire thing need changed? Do they scratch and dust in it too? How deep so you do you put it?Thanks I'm new to chickens. Have 49 almost 3 week chicks that are in our homemade 8x10 coop with hay bedding I fluff everyday and change completely every week= too much being in compost pile! Therefore I like the sand idea please help.

Hi, newbie here > First, your FB and web sites are great...thank you for so much information! We bought property which included an older large coop. I'll try to explain: it as two huge areas connected by a 2x2 hole. One side is a nice run. The other (middle section) is connected to a third section along the line side which includes the roost area, a separate dusting area, and a separate box area. All three of these areas are accessible from the outside of the coop (great!). However, the roost area, while accessible, I can't walk into. It's a little over 4' at the tallest (where it connects to the main area), and has a permanent corrugated 'roof' slanting down to about 3'. The entire external 3' panel comes off for access from the outside. I can see two permanent roosting bars (2x4s) inside the entire width, however, I can not reach the top of either. About 1' under the bars is chicken wire the entire width (which also serves as a second predator protection level from the bottom), and the very bottom is dirt. The exterior has a 1x4 in the dirt with wire. HERE ARE MY QUESTIONS, (please?) > I want to use plastic bins for the DB. Q1) Would I put this on top of the chicken wire (with pine/straw in them) OR on top of the sand (need to deal w/poop sticking to the wires above). Also, the walls of the roost area have a little space between them for air flow...Q2> is this enough when our summer days get up to 110' (evening to about 80'), or do I need a window w/hardware cloth? Thanks in advance :)>

The use of 2" x 4" wire instead of wire cloth or chicken wire does facilitate passthrough. In the past, our roosting boards are over a drop pit. However, in the middle of the roosting boards I installed a platform for the water dispenser with a heat lamp suspended over to keep it from freezing in the winter. I will try and include photo links. We've added on to our coop and attempting to re-design the pit area. A DB sounds good but I'd prefer they not walk in the drop zone. We do go on 3-4 days trips and their habitat is turn key.

This is an article you're going to want to read with regard to the ventilation issue. It is as important in winter as it is in summer. I would put windows on all four sides of the coop. http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/11/surviving-winter-with-chickens.html

Hi, I am new to having a 5 month old chicken. We have a coop that has wire fence all around including the bottom area which we were given straw to put down as bedding. Now I'm reading straw is not good, to use pine shavings. My question is with the cage being wired, what can I put down so thst the pine shavings just don't fall through to the newspaper?

I am building my first chicken coop and someone told me not to use a board at all in the coop. He said if I use a wire bottom, the poop drops to the ground and I can rake it out. Do I NEED a solid bottom with shavings in the other area besides the hen boxes? I am making a small box for 2 hens

I have have a coop that my daughter designed part of the floor is chicken wire were my roosts are is were the chicken wire is and there are steel drip pans below will I need to tarp the lower portion around the legs to stop drafts.

Do you use any kind of predator control other than the auto door? Things like this:http://www.amazon.com/Predator-Guard-Maintenance-Free-Weather-Proof-Protection/dp/B00E51X8Q8/ref=pd_sim_hi_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1PNEYCSPW9AWYFEPXR48

I am going to try this but may not be till spring I only have 4 hens 1 roo so weekly cleaning is good. I would like to finf actual plans to build it will be me duilding this thank you your ideas are great!

I use empty feed bags.. The inside of the bags have a waxy coat.. I just cut them open, lay them out flat underneath the roosts. I take the bag out over a big trash can, and the droppings fall off right into the trash can.. No mess, I can reuse the bag 4 or 5 times, then I just burn it!

I use a 4' by 6' sheet of linoleum under my roosts, Home Depot sells 8' by 6' sheets for about $20,I cut it down the middle. Each sheet lasts about 6 months. We put a little sand on it then shavings on top of that, This is good for about 10 days before we pull the linoleum out empty it into a wheel barrow brush it off and re-install. We have 20 chickens.

What do you do for a hen with coccidiosis? That looks scary! I think I would panic if I saw that! I am so thankful I found your site because I have used so much of your information already or at least had a heads up on some situations that have come into play. I would have been nowhere as confident in handling those situations if I did not have your blog articles. Thank you for your love of chickens and all the time you put into sharing your knowledge with us.

I am new to this site and this is my second attempt at raising chickens. I have no idea what my first chickens died of. My problem is I am getting discouraged because I didn't realize that keeping chickens was going to be so difficult. But I do tend to worry a lot too. With that said one of my huge barred rocks gets pastie butt and she has black spots on her comb and waddle. Everyone else seems to poop normal but there are some other chickens with black spots on the combs and waddles. When I looked it up online it says "fowl pox" which sounds scary. Is this a huge problem , what should I do if this is the case and can I still eat her eggs????

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